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January 2006

So here it is 2006 and I have already had some good and a little bit of bad happen to me. Nothing seriously bad and something very good so perhaps I will be grateful that it is balanced out that way. Here's what the good/bad is all about. First the good news since I am a positive minded person and like most people I enjoy good news and would probably rather not have the bad although life doesn't and cannot always work out that way.

I found out today that I have been selected to be one of 8 finalists for the 2005 VOCAL JAZZCONNECT COMPETITION. This is an online jazz vocal competition that I have entered for fun for the past few years. 8 of us have been selected out of 145 applicants this year so needless to say I am delighted to end up in the final round of this competition. Of course I would love to win but as my Mom has always said about winning things such as lottery tickets, you cannot want to win too much or it just won't happen. I don't know if that is true or not but nonetheless I am thrilled to make it this far and find myself on two of the judges top 5 choices. Sometimes a "little feather in the cap" like that can make you feel good about yourself. It doesn't change who you really are and it doesn't make your hard work as a musician come to an end but it simply feels wonderful to have someone else acknowledge what you are doing. Winning would be fantastic but even making it to the final 8 contestants makes me very happy.

Now I move on to other things.

I had a wonderful New Year's Eve gig. I performed for the third year in a row at the beautiful Waterfront Hotel in downtown Vancouver. The event was sold out and people were dressed in their New Year's Eve finery. This year even more than in the past two years people were there to dance to almost every song we played throughout the evening. They enjoyed dancing to bossa novas, to swing tunes, to waltzes, to ballads and to shuffles. It was great! There is something so old fashioned yet simply beautiful about seeing couples dance to jazz standards. Perhaps I was born in the wrong era but then again no…here is was the eve of New Year's 2005 and people ranging in age from about 30 to perhaps 60 plus were there celebrating the year end as we played the music we loved. The only negative occurred at the very end of the night. I was perhaps one of the last people to leave since I had things to put away after our performance. I went to collect my long black winter coat from the closet where it had been hanging all night and it was gone! Some New Year's Eve reveler had taken my beloved Mary Poppins coat (that's what I call it anyway). I want to think that this was an accident and that perhaps as one of the staff handed out the incorrect coat to the recipient that they had possibly had too much to drink and hadn't noticed that they were being handed my coat and not their own. One other black coat remained in the closet and it was alas, not mine. Although I still had my coat check number in hand, the hanger with my number on it hung empty. So…home I went without a coat. I am hoping that it might turn up eventually. So really my bad news is not really so very bad, simply an annoyance since I loved my coat.

As far as listening to music during December I will write about two artists that I enjoyed very much on DVD during the holiday. Two very different and yet both incredibly inspiring musicians in the jazz world. Both performed solo concerts for these shows. The artists were Keith Jarrett performing a solo piano concert in Japan and Bobby McFerrin performing a solo voice concert in the 80's. These two artists take improvisation to a particularly surprising and delightful level. Both are so very personal in their style and approach to music. A few bars of piano being played by Keith Jarrett and you know who it is immediately. How he plays and what he plays is instantly recognizable because he has his own voice, distinctly his own stamp on the music. I think he even surprised himself a few times during his improvising in this concert. He would get a very pleased look on his face, which was wonderful to witness. Not really a self satisfied look, simply a look of happiness at the sensation of doing what he loves.

Bobby McFerrin seems to delight in the entire process of making music. At times he is singing and playing percussion on his body as he does, singing some very difficult music with incredible precision and there he is with a huge smile on his face as he flits from octave to octave with his seamless voice. He is the real deal and he too has his own completely personal approach and style that is instantly recognizable. How I love watching and hearing that man perform!

Keith Jarrett appears to be from another world as he approaches music and improvisation. At times what you are hearing seems deceivingly simple yet as you listen closely you realize just how many things he is exploring at once. His left hand may be playing a groove while the other is laying down a brand new melody fused together with dense and constantly changing harmony. It is as if he is two or more people at once. You can hear Bach in his playing, you can hear American folk music, you can hear the blues and you can hear many things never heard before so you are constantly on the end of your seat waiting for the next surprise. You are surprised over and over again and that is what is so wonderful about a great improvisor (or improviser depending on how you choose to spell the word). He seems to enter into a world where he is simply channeling the musical ideas flowing through him. Perhaps he really is a musical genius that is able to bring a deep emotional connection to the music, a wild abandoned side that is free from any limitations. You can even see it is beyond his control somehow, not technically but emotionally as he makes his strange little vocal sounds and actually ends up playing from a hunched over standing position at times. He can't even remain in his seat such is the energy of the music that is fuelling him. The music appears to flow through him and he is completely unaware of himself while he is connecting to that stream of consciousness. At least that is what I believe may be happening as I watch this great man play. Then….suddenly the piece is over and he quietly stands to bow each time in an appreciative, simple and humble fashion.

Surprise and delight occur within every bar of Bobby McFerrin's magic music making too. He sings the bass line, the guitar parts, the horn parts, the rhythm part and the melody. It's really unbelievable at times what he is able to do. Even while taking in a breath he is creating sounds. He happens to be a natural comedian and entertainer and in amongst hearing him sing such exciting music you find yourself laughing at some of the antics that he includes in his performance. He is simply wonderful!

One fantastic surprise occurred later in the concert when out of the audience suddenly appeared saxophonist Wayne Shorter who proceeded to play his soprano saxophone. The two musicians interacted on a fabulous duet as Bobby continued to "play" the bass part and also became a secondary horn for Wayne to play with.

So seeing these two wonderful DVD's has inspired me once again to immerse myself in the music and continue to work on becoming a better musician. Here's to a New Year filled with learning, improving and growing as a musician. I hope I'm up to the challenge.

Karin